It’s a fair assumption, given what’s been leaked from the budget to date. However, trying to crowd Labor out of the budget debate could be a risky move.

Last year’s budget was the Abbott Government’s first; the one that traditionally doles out the tough measures early, in the hope voters will have forgotten the pain by the time the next election is held. Treasurer Joe Hockey spent the appropriate amount of time preparing Australians for a budget that would bring an end to the “age of entitlement”, but stumbled when it became clear the economic statement tried to do precisely the opposite.

This year Hockey is on a warning, and he has relinquished much of the budget sales job to the Prime Minister and the unlikely candidate for the 2015 Mr Congeniality award, Social Services Minister Scott Morrison.

The true test of Morrison’s competence of course will be how successfully he shepherds his reforms through the Senate. With this in mind he’s shaped the “jobs and families” component of the budget to mimic Labor policy, with proposed reforms to the aged pension and childcare support that essentially take from the rich and give to the poor, in accordance with what could be seen as Labor values.

Even the most recent budget leak, foreshadowing that parents with two possible sources of paid parental leave will be prevented from drawing on both, looks more like a Labor equity measure than a Liberal funding cut.

In doing this, Morrison is presenting Labor with a conundrum similar to that which challenged the Greens over fuel tax excise – whether to support a Government proposal that is more aligned with their own values than the Coalition’s, or oppose it for fear of being seen to be complicit.

Bowen was also reduced to criticising the Government’s previous proposal on the aged pension, not the current one, which has the support of the welfare sector and some crossbench Senators. Labor’s families spokesperson, Jenny Macklin, similarly hedged her bets, lamely noting in response to the proposal to stop “double dipping” on parental leave that “you would never believe anything they say about paid parental leave” instead of addressing the actual policy.

No doubt the Government is finding it all very amusing to watch the Opposition grapple with this policy wedge, but there’s an attendant risk in offering up a Labor-lite budget to Australian voters.

It’s true that after last year’s omnishambles, voters have a high expectation that this year’s economic statement will be fair. But just as importantly, they will also expect the budget to be economically responsible. And thanks to years of the Abbott opposition chanting the debt and deficit mantra, voters now measure economic competency in these oversimplified terms.

This is a huge risk for the Government, exacerbated by the new spending on childcare and perhaps other initiatives in tomorrow’s budget.

Now Labor will attempt to return the favour, doing its best in the post budget wash-up to untangle its own economic credibility from the debt and deficit albatross so that it can be lashed around the current Treasurer’s neck.

Scott Morrison may have capably performed the role of budget whisperer in past weeks, but when the focus moves to the health of the economy on Tuesday night only the Treasurer will be in a position to explain why the burgeoning deficit is not a cause for voter concern. If Hockey fails, we may get to see if Morrison is up to this task. If he is not, then it will likely be Chris Bowen and Labor’s turn.